Despite the fact that the health-inspection procedures for catering establishments are more stringent than those for ordinary restaurants, more of the cases of food poisoning reported to the city health department were brought on by banquets served by catering services than were brought on by restaurant meals.

Which of the following, if true, helps explain the apparent paradox in the statement above?

A) A significantly larger number of people eat in restaurants than attend catered banquets in any given time period.B) Catering establishments know how many people they expect to serve, and therefore are less likely than restaurants to have, and serve, leftover food, a major source of food poisoning.C) Many restaurants provide catering services for banquets in addition to serving individual meals.D) The number of reported food-poisoning cases at catered banquets is unrelated to whether the meal is served on the caterer’s or the client’s premises.E) People are unlikely to make a connection between a meal they have eaten and a subsequent illness unless the illness strikes a group who are in communication with one another.

The question calls for an explanation of why more cases of reported food poisoning might be attributed to catering services than to restaurants. Choices A and B both provide reasons why restaurants should account for more cases, so they are incorrect. Choice C would suggest that there would be negligible differences between the likelihood of food poisoning at restaurants and at catered events, so it also sheds no light on the paradox and is therefore incorrect. Since the argument does not pertain to the location of catered banquets, Choice D is incorrect. That leaves Choice E. People who attend banquets are more likely than restaurant patrons to be part of a group that communicates with one another, so Choice E would help explain the higher number of reported food poisonings and is the correct answer
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Choice E. People who attend banquets are more likely than restaurant patrons to be part of a group that communicates with one another, so Choice E would help explain the higher number of reported food poisonings and is the correct answer